Thousands return to Iraqi city, where rebels were driven out

BAGHDAD: Thousands of Iraqis have returned to the western city of Ramadi three months after Iraqi troops backed by US-led airstrikes drove Daesh militants out of the provincial capital, the city’s mayor said Sunday.
The returning families must go through security checks and are only allowed to return to areas cleared of mines and booby traps left behind by the extremists, Mayor Ibrahim Al-Osaj said.
Daesh militants seized Ramadi last May and held the town until they were driven out in December. As in other cities and towns in Syria and Iraq, the fight to retake Ramadi demolished large parts of the city. Al-Osaj said seven neighborhoods are still off-limits to residents, not only because of the presence of explosives, but because the areas are “totally ruined.”
He said authorities have restored drinking water for almost 80 percent of the city, refurbished ten schools and provided up to 600 caravans for those who can’t use their houses. He said around 12,000 families have returned since late last month.
Iraqi state TV aired a video showing the Head of Sunni Religious Endowments, Sheik Abdul-Latif Al-Himaim, leading a convoy of dozens of cars into the city.
In late February, the UN mission in Iraq said that bombs were hindering the return of displaced families to Ramadi, killing some residents who were surveying their homes or attempting to disable devices inside the city.